Apple Made $22 Billion In Revenue On Developing World In 2011, Just $1.4B in 2007

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CEO Tim Cook described Apple’s conquest of emerging markets today at the Goldman Sachs Technology and Internet Conference. He said “In 2007, and we didn’t launch the iPhone outside the U.S. until 2008, Apple’s revenue combined from greater China and several other parts of asia, India, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America was $1.4 billion. Revenue for that group of countries last year was $22 billion. We’re only on the surface.”

Cook explained that the iPod didn’t take off as quickly in the developing world “because people were already getting music from their phones. But the world changed for us with iPhone. It introduced our brand to people who had never met Apple before.”

Cook also mentioned his belief that the tablet market will soon surpass the PC market. Regarding the iPad, “55 million units shipped is something no one would have guessed. It took us 22 years to sell 55 million Macs, it took 5 years to sell 55 million iPods, 3 years to sell that many iPhones. It’s on a trajectory that’s off the charts.” Check out MG Siegler’s roundup of Apple’s jaw-dropping Q1 2012 numbers for more the rise of the iPad.

In his final statement, Cook talked about his role sheparding Apple as the successor to Steve Jobs, “I’m not going to witness or permit the slow undoing of it. Steve grilled into us over the years that the company should revolve around great products and that we should stay extremely focused on a few things…and only go into markets where we can create a significant contribution to society, not just sell a lot of units.”

“We’re always focused on the future. We don’t sit and think about how great things were yesterday.”